Phantom Invasion
by Pvt. Expendable
Summary: There are powerful forces at play in the Ghost Zone, powers that have spawned legend and nightmares for thousands of years. They need Danny out of the way permanently. But Death was only the beginning.   AN Your reviews/faves keep me going!
1. Chapter 1

The only sound in the room was the gentle scratching of pencils and the silent whispered prayers to the gods of math tests for the right answers. One student in particular was about three seconds away from offering up a human sacrifice to ancient deity of bubble sheets for a passing grade, a student called Danny Fenton. His hand quickly passed through his messy black hair as he tried to decipher the problem that he had been stuck on for the last ten minutes. Half remembered formulas and equations zipped around in the periphery of his mind. Danny growled in a low voice, "Why do letters have to be in math at all…"

"I feel you buddy." Tucker said from across the isle.

Danny took a quick look at his friend's paper only to see that he was having just as much trouble with the pop quiz that Lancer had sprung on them as he was. "Lancers just subbing this class," Danny whispered to Tucker "Is he even allowed too give a pop quiz?"

Danny waited for Tucker's answer when a shadow seemed to fall over him. Turning around he saw his English teacher haloed in white fluorescent light. "Is there a problem Mr. Fenton, Mr. Foley?"

"No sir!" Tucker and Danny said in unison.

"Very well," he said as he nodded "You both have ten more minutes, use them wisely."

Both of the young men quickly returned to their tests sweating enough bullets to win a world war. Danny scanned the problem again with desperation, he just didn't know it.

A small cough came from in front of him looking up he saw a mass of shiny black hair complete with a small ponytail on the top. A small flash of movement caught Danny's eye. Looking down he saw that Sam had pushed her answer slip out so he could read it, there was even a small pencil circle around the answer to the question he was struggling with .

"The answer is C…" he said as he filled in the dot on his answer sheet. "Thanks Sam." He whispered.

A few minutes later Danny handed his finished test to Mr. Lancer at the front of the class, "Thank you Mr. Fenton, you can…" Lancer cocked his head as if trying to discern an odd noise. Turning around Danny say that the rest of the class seemed to be hearing it too. "What on earth?" Lancer asked as he headed towards the door.

Cracking it open the odd sound became clear, it was screams of fear. Lancer quietly closed the door, turned around, leaned against the door "For the love of _The Prince and the Pauper _they don't pay me enough to put up with this." He cleared his throat "Hem, children you may all want to commence…" jumping out his seat he finished "RUNNING FOR YOUR LIVES!" With this he ran over to the windows, threw one open and jumped out onto the front lawn of Amity High.

Wasting no time the entire class leapt out of their seats and followed their teacher's shining example, except for two students, "Sam," Danny asked while looking around "Where's Tucker?"

Sam nodded towards the window "I'd say at the speed he was traveling, roughly three blocks away by now."

Danny chuckled "Wow, he's getting faster." He turned to face Sam with a stern expression "Seriously though you should get going, I've never seen Lancer freak out like that."

"Kay," she said "meet up at the Nasty Burger after?"

"You bet." he replied.

Sam, going to the window, turned for an instant and said "Be careful." Danny nodded and she was gone.

"Well…" Danny said to no one as he changed into his ghost form "Let's see who we've got today…" Just as he was about to phase through the door it was blown off his hinges knocking him back into the teacher's desk.

Danny shook his head and looked up. Through the smoke that was billowing in from the hallway three figures emerged. A familiar voice with penetrated the room "I think we found him boys!" out of the haze stepped Walker with two of his ghostly guards. "Remember your orders." He told his spectral entourage "Bring him in, dead or alive." And with a snap of his fingers the guards aimed their weapons and fired.

Going intangible the green beams of energy passed harmlessly through Danny leaving several scorch marks on the wall behind him and a few broken windows. "You've got to teach your goons to aim Walker, the school's repair costs are high enough already." He quipped as he flew towards the ghostly battalion.

Grabbing the closest ghost by the collar he quickly spun around and launched it into its comrades scattering them like bowling pins. The small victory was short lived as more ghostly troops glided into the room. "Getting a little cramped in here…" He mumbled as the enemy count ticked past the double digits.

Opting for an escape route he turned and shot off through the scorched wall into the open air of Casper High's front lawn.

"Follow him!" Walker said as his troops took off in hot pursuit "We can't let him get away." He said to a now empty room. Unconsciously his hand slid to a small metal band on his wrist "Can't…"

Cutting through the air away from the school Danny looked back to see at least twenty of Walker's guards speeding after him. Scanning the ground below him he saw Amity Park off to his right. Dropping altitude he began to zigzag through the trees to avoid the shots being lobed at him from behind. Saplings exploded and limbs were blown off closer and closer to Danny as the ghosts zeroed in on him with their weapons, These were not the capture rods that Walker's goons usually used, if he got hit it was going to hurt, bad.

Finally coming to the tree he was looking for he phased through the trunk and came out the other side holding a Fenton Thermos. His pursuers came to an abrupt halt as their eyes widened in terror at the all too familiar object. With a small wave and a smile. Danny pressed the button on the side of the small cylinder activating the device causing his twenty or so problems to be whisked away into an easy to carry thermos. Turning his hand intangible he placed the thermos back into the hollow he carved in the tree. Taking off quickly to meet his friends he didn't see the guard he had missed hiding in the bushes, nor did he hear the small whisper into a head set that said "Plan B."

Almost instantaneously a harsh voice crackled into the ear piece "NO! You fools had your chance, now it's my turn!" as the voice clicked off a band of metal identical to the one on Walker's wrist began to emanate a harsh red light. As soon as the illumination touched the ghostly subordinate he began to writhe in pain, then all of a sudden there was a blinding flash. As the light subsided all that could be seen was the slightly warm and smoking metal circlet, which a few moments later fell into a pile of dust.

From the air Danny was able to spot his friends by Tucker's bright red cap, he slowly spiraled down to a collection of dumpsters behind the Nasty Burger. Taking a quick peek up and down the alley to make sure he was alone he quickly shed his ghostly form. Walking around the corner he raised his hand in greeting to his friends and was promptly thrown through the air by what felt like a pillow welded by the incredible hulk. Hitting the garbage cans that he just came out from behind in a tangle of limbs Danny attempted to gain some kind of grasp on what the hell had just happened. Picking a Nasty Dog wrapper off his face he look at the spot he was standing a few moments before, there was a three foot crater about a foot from where he had been standing. The impact had just been the concussive force of that explosion. Danny gulped realizing how close he had just come being killed.

"Hmm… I guess my aim is a little rusty…" a voice rasped above him.

Quickly looking above him Danny was confronted with a floating specter clad entirely in a black robe. A black so deep that it seemed to draw the very light out of the air around him giving the impression that he was wreathed either by a dark smoke or pure shadow, the only feature that was evident were his burring red eyes.

Danny was able to take all of this in roughly a second which was fortunate because if he had waited a moment longer the second shot the mysterious ghost lobbed at his head would have taken it clean off his shoulders. He quickly dropped and rolled to his left missing the edge of the beam by inches. The blast took the corner off of a clothing shop adjacent to the Nasty Burger. The edge was as clean, as if sliced by a blade.

Rolling to his feet he summoned his ghostly powers causing the halos of light to ring him and bring forth Danny Phantom. Danny quickly flew around his hooded opponent, took aim and retaliated with a shot of his own. The shaft of energy hit the opposing ghost dead between the shoulder blades leavening a dark, smoking spot that only led to the ghost's infuriation.

Danny's opponent whipped around and stared at Danny with a look that could kill "Insolent child!" he spat do you think that your power can stand against those of the all powerful Reaper!" Reaching behind his back Reaper pulled out a scythe.

Danny was struck dumb by the visage in front of him. Even if this ghost was a pretender to his title the overall effect was still intimidating. This hesitation was fatal.

Reaper blitzed forward leading with the butt of his weapon, his speed was such that Danny was not even sure what had happened until he looked at his stomach and saw the blunt tip being driven into his gut. The strike knocked all the air out of Danny leaving his helpless. Reaper grabbed Danny by the thought and let out a small grunt of effort and then a sigh of relief.

Danny felt a cold deep inside him, slowly leaching away what little strength he had left The small halos of white light appeared and quickly receded, revealing his soft vulnerable human skin. "What did you do?" Danny asked now returned to his human state.

The ghost let out a small snicker "Wouldn't you like to know." Then slowly rising in altitude he started to laugh, a maniacal laugh that showed this spirit was beyond any reasoning what so ever.

Then once the ghost had reached an altitude of about thirty stories high looked down at the helpless boy in his hands and whispered "Good bye Danny Fenton." Then let go and let the boy fall.

Danny fell for what felt like an eternity an even when his body hit the ground Danny just kept on falling…

Sam silently watched from a bush as Danny fought against the shrouded ghost. "Go Danny, get him…" she whispered to her self, silently egging her friend on.

She heard a twig snap behind her. She quickly tensed her muscles, ready to run from any unseen attacker. Out of the bushes came a red hat with another of Danny's friends attached to it.

"Tucker, dam it! Don't sneak up on me like that!" she hissed.

"Chill Sam, God you got to relax." He said putting up his hands defensively. "So how's our boy doing?"

Looking away from tucker she saw that the ghost and Danny seemed to be exchanging some kind of banter. '_Probably the ghost saying some lame pun then Danny shooting back one of his'_ she thought sarcastically.

Sam then noticed that something was wrong; Danny had stopped moving and was just staring at the ghost in shock. "Danny?" she quietly asked.

Tucker looked worried "What's wrong with him?" a small quaver in his voice. Then the ghost rushed at Danny slamming him in the gut with the butt of his scythe then grabbed his neck in a vice like grip, and lifted him up into the sky.

All was quiet for a moment, then there was a drawn out scream and Danny's two friends saw him fall and then it the ground with a sickening "THUD!" Sam gasped and rushed forward to her fallen friend.

Tucker slowly crept out of his hiding place and softly asked "Is he all right?" He got no answer except Sam's soft sobs. Then walking across the pavement to where his friend had fallen he saw Danny was no longer with the living. A small tear of blood ran down Danny's face and Tucker sank down to his knees and joined his friend in sorrow…

Danny awoke in a familiar place, one though that he wished he had never known. He was in the swirling abyss of the ghost zone. "How did I get here?" he wondered aloud. He looked down at his body and saw that he was in his ghost form. "How in the world?"

Thinking back he remembered something had happened that had caused him to lose his powers, what though he had trouble remembering. The last thing he could recall was a long fall then…

He started to draw deep ragged breaths but then realized he couldn't. He went into a panic, his mind screaming at him this can't be real. '_It must be a dream,'_ he thought _'That's it the ghost knocked me out and I'm dreaming' _ Danny tried to ghost out only to find he couldn't.

Looking for one last piece of evidence proving him to be alivehe felt his chest for the familiar beating of his heart only to find he had none. It hit him like a hammer, he hadn't survived…

It was a somber day. Almost every person Danny had ever known had shown up, friends and enemies alike. One by one they passed by Danny's coffin all then turning towards the on stage microphone to say a few words of about the dearly departed.

First up was Jazz who solemnly told the other mourners about how great of a brother he had been in life and all the things she felt were left unsaid between them, then broke down in tears and had to leave the podium.

Then Jack and Maddy came to the stage. They had both abandoned their jumpsuits in light of the funeral for more appropriate dress, Jack in a black tuxedo and Maddy in a black mourning dress with a black lace veil. Jack had to say the entire sermon himself because his wife couldn't stop crying long enough to say anything coherent. And so went the rest of mourners all saying how great of a person he was and how they were sorry that they only realized tin once Danny was dead.

All the people slowly filed out of the hall fallowing the pallbearers to the grave site. The coffin was slowly lowered into the ground then covered with earth. The proper blessings were ordained by the priest and the mourners all slowly went to the Fenton's house.

Sam and Tucker remained a little longer staring at the inscription on Danny's grave stone. "Danny Fenton cruelly snatched away from his loved ones at such a tender age. April, 4, 1990-November, 5, 2005" The two sorrow stricken teens slowly started to walk away to find there parents. Sam glanced back one last time to look at her lost friend and thought she saw the dark outline of a person. She stopped and turned around only to see the figure disappear like he was made of nothing more than mist.

Tucker turned his head "Sam are you coming?"

"Ya just give me a sec." she went back to where she saw the figure only to find what she expected nothing. Then as she turned to go something caught her eye on the grave. Sitting on the mound of freshly dug earth sat a single, deep blue rose. Sam picked it up and took a deep smell of the fragrant flower.

"Sam hurry up!" Tucker yelled from the parking lot. Sam hiked up her dress and sprinted to the waiting car.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Danny felt as he hit the ground was an instant of blinding pain then… Nothing… there was no ground benieth his feet, no air stired against his skin, no

light passed through his eyes, not a single smell. Even if there was he would have not been able to experience it in the semi conscious state. There was no reference of

times passage in this place. He hung there like a puff of smoke in a still room, how long was hard to say. It could have been only a few days, or a lifetime.

All at once conscious hit him like a hammer. He tried to draw in a breath to shout for help, but he couldn't there was no breath to draw, nothing to draw it with; it was

as if he was nothing but a disembodied mind floating in the void. Panic began to grip his heart; his mind began to race as he tried to remember how he came to be in

this purgatory. It came to him in halting starts, his memories seen as if through a fogged mirror. The fight at school, meeting his friends, the attack… the fall…

"_No… no that can't be…"_ he thought, fear now was beginning to creep in, in place of the panic. He remembered hitting the ground, the pain and the nothing that

followed. This time when he screamed there was a far away sound, as if his mouth was in the next room to his ears. Sensations started coming back faintly, slowly…

like his mind was an old projector running up to speed. A faint green glow started to seep into the black void, which was somehow very familiar. The familiarity was

driven home when a door drifted by his field of vision.

Now fully back in his mental saddle Danny shot up from the piece of land where he lay prone. This was a mistake, his whole body cried out in protest at the sudden

movement. His joints locked, muscled cramped and a pain which felt like a rail road spike stabbed into the back of his skull. This laid him out flat on his back.

After taking a few moments to compose himself and let the pain subside he began a more tentative survey of his surroundings turning his head to the right he could

see that he was laying in the middle of a street, cracks radiated out from where he was laying. Further down the street was the Nasty Burger II, but instead of the

modern, freshly re-built building this one looked as it had been abandoned for years and left to dilapidate. The front windows were broken and seemed to stare with

dark accusing eyes, the storefront and sidewalk was littered with trash which was ghostly still in the breathless atmosphere of the Ghost Zone.

Looking to the left was one of the hardest things he had ever done, both physically (the tendons in his neck snapped taught and began to cramp) and emotionally

because of what he was afraid of what he would find. Once his head dropped back down to the asphalt now looking the other direction he was looking at what he

thought was Amity Park. At least that was what the sign said, which was as in as bad of shape as the Nasty Burger if not worse. But despite the sign the place beyond

it looked almost nothing the park of his childhood. The trees were over grown and gnarled, the grass was chest high and any plant that would have held a hint of

gloom reliving color lie wilted and brown in their beds.

Not wanting to lie in the middle of a street any longer than he had to Danny pulled himself to his hand and knees with excruciating slowness. Dragging himself up from

where he lay he was able to look at the ground he was laying. There was a deep dent in the ground, it was vaguely shaped like a person in what appeared to the

exact same position in which he had been laying.

He wanted away from that place because he had a strange feeling he knew what had caused that dent and how he came to be there. Scrambling away as fast as his

battered body would allow he crossed the street to the tree closest to the road and laid against it. Slowly, ever so slowly he moved his hand to his chest and presses it

into it. He found what he was dreading and half expecting, nothing. No beating heart, no warmth from his body. It was then he saw that he was wearing his Phantom

costume. He tried to release his power, to become human again only to find that he couldn't. What happened dawned on him like a terrible sun.

He hadn't survived the fall and now he was a ghost. He wanted to cry only to find that this too had been taken from him at his death. He settled with a scream that

contained all the rage and sorrow that he could muster. Voice now horse, body screaming in agony he didn't see how his situation could be any worse, any more

hopeless. That was when he heard the footsteps coming down the overgrown park path.

* * *

After the funeral all the mourners had proceeded back to Jack and Maddy's home for the wake. There was a mournful silence in the Fenton house. All of Danny's friends,

family and school mates had attended. It didn't matter whether they had liked or hated Danny because it's true what they say, death is the great equalizer. One by one

the friends and acquaintances of Danny Fenton came forward and said their piece. Whether it was fond recollections of how he made people laugh with his easy humor

and quick smile, or regrets of how they had never treated him as well as they should of (Paulina and Dash the most noteworthy). Danny's parents tried to say

something but as soon as Maddy began to speak she broke down crying and fled the room, followed quickly by Jack with comforting words that did not quite touch his

heart.

The common held belief was Danny had been killed though no one knew how or why. Except of course Tucker and Sam who had said they had see nothing. They felt

that this is what Danny would have wanted, his secret kept. The other reason was for the sake of the Fenton family, they felt that if Danny's parents knew that their

only son had been killed by a ghost they would have most likely mounted an all out war against the world of ghosts which would have surely killed them in the process.

And they felt that the last thing that Jazz needed right now was the loss of the rest of her family.

Jazz just sat alone in a chair away from the other people, silent tears rolling down her eyes. Whenever anyone tried to approach her she would just stair off into the

distance not responding. Her misery stemmed from misplaced guilt. She was almost positive Danny had been killed by a ghost, the thing she most feared ever since she

had discovered his secret. She felt that if she had been there she could have saved him. That's just how the mind works in a state of grief, it dwells on the "What if?"

Sam and Tucker stood amongst the mourners both still numb from the death of there friend, Tucker wore a dark black suit, where as Sam had worn a high neck,

sleeveless black silk dress that loosely flowed around her ankles. She had let her hair down so it floated around her shoulders and to complete the look she had two

rube earrings that hung off short silver chains.

* * *

Sitting against the tree Danny heard the steps coming closer, then faintly he heard the sound of a plucked guitar string followed by a dark feminine laugh which

sounded suspiciously like "_Dip-stick…"._

_ "Oh ya.." _Danny thought_ "this is going to hurt"_


End file.
